Youtz hat trick leads field hockey against Colgate

After defeating Drexel 5-1 last Sunday, the Owls wrapped up a five game home stand with a 7-3 win against the Colgate Raiders.

The Owls have now scored 12 goals in their last two games, thanks in part to changes made in the lineup and the use of a more aggressive style of play, coach Amanda Janney said.

“We changed positions,” Janney said. “We put [senior forward Katie Briglia] up top and that has helped a ton. “

“I think we are just trying to teach our girls to play as aggressive as possible,” Janney added. “We’re glad it is paying off.”

Briglia took 10 shots in Saturday’s game. She was able to put five of her shots on goal, and scored off one from a penalty corner in the first half.

Overall, Temple took a grand total of 29 shots, putting 22 of them on goal.

Sophomore forward Amber Youtz led the way for the offense, scoring three goals.

Youtz scored the first goal of the game in the first half by deflecting a penalty corner shot by junior midfielder/defender Molly Doyle.

Doyle earned the assist on the play that gave Temple the lead.

In the second half, Youtz scored her second goal of the game, by taking the ball into Colgate’s territory herself.

Colgate sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Didomizio dove out of the net to try and poke the ball away, but Youtz was able to make a move past her, allowing for an easy open net goal.

Just over a minute later, Youtz scored again by deflecting a shot from sophomore forward/midfielder Nicole Kroener into the net.

After allowing two consecutive goals to Youtz to make for the sixth and seventh goals allowed on the day, Didomizio was replaced in goal by junior goalkeeper Caitlin Zolet.

Youtz has nine goals after Saturday’s game, helping her maintain the team’s lead in goals (nine) and points (23).

Temple’s defense also performed well on Saturday, holding Colgate to only two shots in the first half and 10 shots in the second.

Colgate managed to score two goals on Temple’s redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Lizzy Millen and one on sophomore goalkeeper Haley Mitchell, but it was not enough to keep up with the Owls’ offensive attack.

After Youtz scored the opening goal for Temple, sophomore forward Eliana Brown tied the game up one to one for Colgate with her first goal of the season.

After sophomore midfielder Nicole Kroener and forward Katie Briglia each scored to give Temple a 3-1 lead at the end the first half, sophomore defenseman Kelsey Jensen ripped a shot by Millen, to cut the lead back down to one for Colgate

Millen made six saves in 52 minutes and 31 seconds of play on Saturday, and then was replaced by Mitchell who made two saves and allowed one goal in the remainder of the game.

Colgate, however, lost any momentum that Jensen created with her goal when a ball that was dumped into Colgate’s territory by Temple junior forward Lauren Hunt, bounced off the post then off of the foot of Colgate goalkeeper Amanda Didomizio and into the net.

The error was ruled as a goal and gave Temple a 4-2 lead.

From there, the Owls would score three more goals. One by junior midfielder/defender Mandi Shearer on a penalty corner and then the two more goals score by Youtz.

Colgate scored one more goal off of a one-timer goal from senior midfielder Kendall ZaHarris that was set up by a pass from senior defenseman Adrianna Libutti. But by then, it was too little too late, as there was a little less than six minutes left remaining.

The win over Colgate gives Temple its fourth win of the season and second straight win at home. The Owls’ record now stands a 4-5.

Janney made a total of seven substitutions during the game in order to keep the starters rested for Sunday’s road game against the Bucknell Bisons. For freshman forward/midfielder Erin VanHorn and freshman defender Alyssa Hughes, it meant their first appearance in a game.

“We had two players [VanHorn and Hughes] play their first game today and we are all really happy with what they did,” Janney said.

The game against Bucknell will be the conclusion of a series of back to back games for Owls this weekend.

“We are trying to keep our girls fresh,” Janney said. “We have been training hard all season, so we expect [the team] to come out.”

“To win [Atlantic 10 Conference games] we got to play back to back, so we will be ready for tomorrow,” Janney added.

Temple is 2-0 on the road this season and will be playing a team that was shutout 2-0 in their last game against Michigan.

Nicholas William Tricome can be reached at nicholas.william.tricome@temple.edu.

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